The Dining Society’s 2011 summer season kicked off last weekend in Echo Park, with a menu that included Kusshi oysters and roasted root vegetables and shrimp and squid sauteed with corn and pork belly with mustard and fava beans, finished off with strawberries and homemade ice cream. The food, presented family style, was practically perfect in every way. The drinks were BYOB, with a nightcap courtesy of Alie & Georgia: rum with homemade chai.
Everyone gathered in Jaime and Michelle’s driveway for the evening. While the cooks chopped up everything in the kitchen, we spent the day getting it all gussied up for the dinner party, which included boring stuff like sweeping, but also fun stuff like decorating the table (setting the tablescape, if you will), with planters courtesy of Woolly Pockets. We planted the pockets with a mix of succulents and edibles, which ended up being pretty AND practical when the kitchen ran out of rosemary and Debbie, the sous chef, came running down and did some last-minute shopping from one of the Woolly Pockets. (We put a lot of heirloom lettuces in the pockets, especially the gorgeous speckled kind … salads forever!)
This was just a practice run for all the dinners the Society (which is headed by Providence cook Kevin Van) will be hosting around L.A. this summer. And it was perfection. Get on that list, y’all.
As they say….ANGELENOS!
SO GOOD. Also, Jaime Honkawa took most of the photos!
This was the best! Can’t wait for more!
